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This post is a little bit more about my personal experiences and observations of being in Zhuhai, China.

So on return to Hong Kong, to pick up four of the extremely large
suitcases to be hand-transported to Zhuhai, I rested again for a
couple of nights at the really rather nice, but not
relatively-horrendously-expensive Royal Park Hotel. After living off
noodles, egg, pak choi, seaweed snacks, and grapes for five days in
Shenzen, I was craving chicken, stuffed my face with potatoes and
vegetables from a really nice restaurant, then got walnuts and
wonderful dried fruit at the local supermarket, and barely made it back to
the hotel upright and went straight to sleep.

Two mornings later my journey to Zhuhai began, with the taxi boot
jammed with three of the 25 kg suitcases, the 3D printer suit-bag being
on the front seat. Ostensibly the journey was to cost $320 HKD, but on
weighing the luggage at a whopping, trolley-straining 87 kg, it went
along for the ride for a whopping extra $400 HKD. The ferry itself was
awesome: about an hour and a half at well over 60km/h on a “Catamaran”
style hull, with spray coming out the back that was longer than the
actual boat. Halfway through we got bounced around, but it was a lot
of fun.

Now, fascinatingly they had a “Nature Program” (with English subtitles) showing on TV on the ferry. It explained things like how
there’re these unique species of crane that live in trees by the
coast that have been flying out for thousands of years and the
farmers basically set their watches (if they had watches) by their
outward journey, to join them in the rice fields. Turns out that the
cranes live off the slugs and snails that eat the rice, so it’s
actually an amazing symbiotic relationship between the farmers and
these cranes, something that’s extremely rare amongst humans. Then of
course, along comes wheat, being more profitable, of course the
farmers stop planting rice, and these beautiful and utterly unique
cranes become extinct… or so everyone thought. Seven were found,
the last remaining in the world, and the Chinese government stepped in
to protect the forest surrounding the area (so that the cranes have
somewhere to nest). The government subsidizes the village’s economy so that the
farmers can continue to plant rice at a profit, and there are now over
250 of these beautiful, unique birds in the wild. The documentary
explained several such stories, including one where there is now a
bird spotting club in Beijing where an extremely rare species of white
owl travels into the city to nest in some very specific trees unique to
a one thousand-year-old Monastery. Several owls are getting hit by
buses, ensnared in electrical lines along the way and so on, so the
Chinese Government has established a special aviary recovery unit,
helping the birds to heal, making sure they’re able to fly (special
covered area for that) and then releasing them safely back in the
wild.

Later in my trip I would watch a second documentary about China’s
massive investment in the building trade, starting back in 2008.
When every other country was mumbling about “austerity packages”,
China started a programme to build 80 airports a week, six million
miles of roads per year, tens of thousands of high-rise apartment
blocks - the numbers just kept coming and were staggering in their
ambition. They actually established a University to train tens of
thousands of young people a year to operate cranes, diggers, and other
heavy plant machinery, providing full 3D simulators for them. One
factory was shown assembling one new digger every ten minutes.

And we think we’re the bee’s knees in the West. We have no idea.
China is now exporting its expertise in skyscraper technology and
construction, yet another thing for which we’re in financial debt to China.

So I’ve been getting by, by a process of smiling, pointing, drawing,
miming, and a bit of “boo-ya” and “hen how”. Okay, it’s a bit more
sophisticated than that, and a smartphone really helps. Which, even
in Zhuhai, everybody but the really really old people seem to have.
At least here in Zhuhai they don’t seem to cling to them like magic
talismans like they do in Shanghai. The air’s cleaner, despite seeing
only my first actual motorcycle since I arrived (apparently they’re
banned in the cities, which explains why all the scooters are
electric). Even the 10F bus is fully electric. There are a lot of
buses, and they’re all full.

My skates help enormously. I’ve always loved them, but I can get
around at speed (24km/h or so), yet I can also sit down with people,
have some tea, and have my photo taken (or, video in one case) and
posted to wechat (not Facebook, remember?) with some guy who’s proud
of the fact that he’s met a foreigner to help him with the case of 12
beers he’s bought (and drunk seven of, already). He encouraged me to
buy some chow-mein and it was awesome.

So I’m sitting 8,000 miles from most places I’ve lived, I’m sharing
tea according to an ancient ritual I recognise as being critical to
ensuring that people stay alive by boiling the water that they drink.
I’m getting light-headed from a few sips of beer. I’m in a large town
that’s effectively on the edge of a jungle, with beautiful mountains
for a backdrop, the only foreigner in a concrete-infested village
occupied by happy smartphone-internet-connected people, and I’m
sitting there wondering what the hell I did to be so lucky to
get a glimpse of these people’s lives.

After stuffing my face with the largest bowl of chow-mein that’s ever
been put in front of me (approx. $1.20 USD), I went back round the corner
to find that there were people playing basketball on local (concrete,
again) hardcourts, with other people sitting or exercising on some of
the outdoor, heavy-duty recreational gym equipment. So I skated
round them for a bit, just for fun, then made my way back to the
charming hostel ($10/night).

On the way I met a kid about six years old, also on skates, I waved
hello and decided to double-back and see (without actually saying
anything coherent in any language either of us could understand) if he
wanted to learn some tricks. Turned out that he did. Everything I
taught him in the first five minutes he could do easily, quickly, and
first time, so I upped the challenge a bit and tried teaching him
“cone S’s“. This is where you put some cones down, then put one foot
in front of the other, and make the left foot snake to the right
whilst the rear right foot snakes to the left, the cone goes in
between your crossed-over-feet, then you reverse them for the next
cone. It’s complicated and looks utterly cool when done at speed.

So we found some stones, laid them out, did figure-eights round them:
I tried doing S’s, he copied, and I left him to it. Honestly I was
amazed at how quickly he picked things up, and I think he may have
appreciated seeing someone go by with skill and speed. It will give
him something to aim for, just as happened with me when I first saw
how cool (and challenging) skating really is.

All this is against the background of being here to help out
Allwinner, yet also I have to find somewhere to live for the next few
months. I’ve found an apartment, arranged to pay cash for an entire
six months rent (I figured that would be an incentive for the owner to
agree to reduce the normal rental contract duration from its usual 1
to 2 years - turns out I guessed right!). Now, six months rent for
an 86 square-metre beautiful flat, in a gated community where there
are palm trees, a local supermarket that has Western food,
playgrounds, tennis courts, a kindergarten and an abundance of
ex-pats, you would think would cost a lot: it’s RMB 2,500, around
$250 a month. A smaller apartment with only one bedroom in Den Haag
cost $1100 EUR (around $1,400 USD).

Basically, I’m now in a position to be extremely competitively priced
when providing extensive support for Western clients, with Allwinner
nearby and Shenzhen only a 90 minute ferry ride away.
Ironically, as has been the case for the past fifteen years, I still
will not actually be making any profit, because any money made needs
to go directly and immediately into funding the EOMA68 project
(including fulfilling the current batch of pledges). Still, if the
surroundings are beautiful, and you’re surrounded by people who
clearly enjoy living their lives, it’s like being on holiday all the
time. After all these years, how the hell did I end up being so
lucky?

Micro Desktop Housing for Computer Card

This is a Micro Desktop base unit and power supply unit with a beautiful laser-cut stack of 3mm plywood panels that creates an aesthetically attractive tiny base unit for your Computer Cards. Excludes Computer Card, keyboard, mouse and VGA monitor.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $12 Worldwide

$450

PIY Laptop Housing Kit for Computer Card

This Print-It-Yourself (PIY) kit includes all the parts, cabling and
boards (main, power, and controller, assembled and tested), and
battery, charger, keyboard, LCD, and CTP-LCD for trackpad that are
needed to build a complete Libre Laptop once you 3D print the
enclosure from the freely available GPLv3+ licensed plans. Excludes
Computer Card.

Orders placed now ship Apr 30, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $25 Worldwide

$500

PFY Laptop Housing Kit for Computer Card

This Printed-For-You (PFY) kit has everything needed to create a full
EOMA68 Laptop, including a 3D printed set of casework parts,
bamboo plywood panels, tested and assembled PCBs, cables, battery,
charger, keyboard, LCD, and CTP-LCD for trackpad. Available in a
variety of colors and materials. Excludes Computer Card.

Orders placed now ship May 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $25 Worldwide

Material / Color

$1,200

Completely Assembled Laptop + Computer Card

A meticulously hand-assembled and fully-tested laptop. Includes your choice of EOMA68-A20 Computer Card and 3D-printed casework.

For those people who would like the opportunity to meet the designers
and have them personally go over the project's development, history,
future direction and much more, a week's time can be made available to
meet with you personally, to do a hands-on workshop to help you (and
any number of additional attendees) through the process of putting
together your own fully-functioning laptop and even take you through
the process of building and installing the software. Also included
will be one Laptop with a Computer Card which will be assembled
on-site. You must provide travel, accommodation, tools and a suitable
workshop and presentation space. Contact us directly for details.

Orders placed now ship May 31, 2019.

Free Worldwide Shipping

Material / Color

$20

PCMCIA/EOMA68 Breakout Board

One PCMCIA/EOMA68 Breakout Board with one surface mount PCMCIA header, and tracks to some convenient 2.54-mm-spaced through-holes. Added by popular demand, for access, tinkering, development work, testing, etc.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $10 Worldwide

$35

Pass-through Card

A simple card that takes in HDMI and USB and passes them on. Turns a Laptop Housing into a portable, battery-powered dock for your smartphone, USB-HDMI dongle computer, and tablet, or a second screen, keyboard, and mouse for your existing laptop or desktop PC.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $10 Worldwide

$15

USB + HDMI Cable Set for Standalone Operation

Includes a Micro HDMI Type D cable and 3-way USB-OTG Host-Charger cable tested and known to work with EOMA68 Computer Cards. These are the cables you need to run a Computer Card as a standalone device without the need for a housing. Also useful with the Micro Desktop or Laptop Housing to add a second screen and extra USB port.